


Epidemic

by BornOfFire



Series: Saudade AU Stories [8]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: BATIM, Except Shawn (He's probably in his late 20's or early 30's in this AU), Found Family, Gen, Grant and most of the other Survivors (Characters) are young adults, Grant sees Shawn almost as a father to him, Grant suffers from anxiety, Joey is responsible for the virus and its outbreak (No one knows yet though), Modern Day, More characters will be introduced later on, More tags later, Norman has a little sister, Some characters will become infected, Sorry if the tags are all over the place. Still figuring them out, This story is a spinoff of my main BATIM AU called Saudade, Zombie Characters, Zombies, zombie apocalypse AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21627178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BornOfFire/pseuds/BornOfFire
Summary: The apocalypse was the last thing anyone had been expecting. No one was prepared. Governments all over the globe were in extreme panic as a mysterious virus had swept throughout all major cities. It started out with people simply being sick. Then people began to drop like flies. Reanimating into bloodthirsty creatures soon after.A day after the apocalypse was when the survivor groups started. People looking for food, shelter, weapons, and water, basically all the things needed for survival in this new world. Shawn Flynn and Grant Cohen were originally part of one group. But a sudden zombie attack had caused multiple members of the group to seperate, including the two men. Sadly for them. Things were only going to get worse from here.
Series: Saudade AU Stories [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/865257
Comments: 5
Kudos: 25





	1. Separated

**Author's Note:**

> It's been so long since I've posted or updated anything on Archive and I feel really bad about it.. I'm sorry guys. And I'm sorry if this story isn't good either. If I find any problems I’ll try my best to fix them later. 
> 
> If it bothers anyone just let me know. I'll take it down I promise. It's probably best if I kept the one on Tumblr up instead.

It truly frightening to stumble upon those creatures. The _infected_ , lumbering around like they’re puppets on strings. Bleeding faces and blood-stained teeth. Dark veins spreading all over their bodies, and eyes glowing with a yellow haze. He knew that they used to be people only a day before.. but there was nothing human in them now.

They traveled around in groups. Sometimes growing so big in numbers that survivors would refer to the dead as ‘ _hordes_.’ Searching for people to infect. Eating never seemed enough for those monsters. Ripping into one body and then lunging for the next. Going for anything that moved, as long as it wasn’t another zombie.

Because of an oncoming horde, Shawn had briefly become separated from Grant. Naturally he was absolutely terrified. The kid was a ticking time-bomb of Anxiety. When the outbreak started the day before, he could barely get him to move. Grant was almost paralyzed in fear. If Shawn hadn’t found him in time he probably would’ve been eaten. How was the boy supposed to handle being in a zombie-infested city without anyone to protect him?!

Feeling like a complete idiot for having this happen in the first place, Shawn swore under his breath. Pulling out a box of ammunition from his backpack, and steadily re-loading his firearm. Hearing it click into place. He then proceeded to run out of the alley he was hiding in, like a maniac. Completely disregarding the safety rules put in place by most survivor groups.

**Rule Number One:** _Always check if an area is clear._

“Grant?! Grant, where are you buddy?!” Shawn called out into the surprisingly empty street, save for broken down cars and burning debris. For a second, everything seemed fine. Until he heard a choked gurgling from behind a pile of rubble. Then Shawn tensed up. Knowing what was coming. Mentally scolding himself over his recklessness.

A middle-aged man appeared. Wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue tie. Clothes that probably were once spotless and clean were now covered in blood and dirt. A single _bite-mark_ rested on his neck, oozing with foul black liquid. The very same substance that was leaking from the man’s eyes and mouth. It staggered forward on unsteady legs. Slowly it stumbled towards Shawn.

**Rule Number 2:** _Never underestimate their speed._

Suddenly the zombified man snarled, breaking into a sprint and then a quick lunge. Just narrowly missing Shawn who had dodged, and slamming into a brick wall. Knowing the enemy’s weakness was crucial in the new world. Luckily Shawn had already figured a few of them out.

“Heh. That was a close one. Nearly got me.” Shawn laughed. The zombie was now lying on the ground. Stunned from the impact of its face accidentally smashing into a wall. Groaning weakly and trying poorly to get back up.

“Welp, sorry buddy. Looks like I’ve got to put you out of your misery.” The man said, before firing a bullet through the corpse’s skull. Splattering its blood all over the side-walk. Silently congratulating himself, Shawn took off running before any more of those creatures showed up. They tended to be attracted to loud noises and the blast of a shotgun was certainly going to be one of those sounds.

_‘Gotta get inside somewhere. Grant has to be in one of these buildings..’_ He thought to himself. Deciding to go to the one closest to where the two friends had been separated. Hopefully the boy chose this building as well. If not, then Shawn would be back to square one (desperately running down streets searching for him)

————

**Rule Number Three:** _Find Shelter._

Blood dripped down his face from a wound on his forehead. Grant couldn’t remember how he got it. Neither did he remember where he was. It seemed to be some kind of office building, but the place was a mess. Everything was in complete disarray. Various papers piled up on the ground in a heap. One of them being a warning flyer about the outbreak of disease. Grant frowned at the sight of it. Chairs were knocked over, and broken glass scattered the floor. What was most disturbing was the _bloody_ hand-print next to the undisturbed coffee-machine.

Wait. Where was Shawn? He was just with him a moment ago wasn’t he? Grant groaned and held his head in pain. No doubt that he must of sustained some kind of concussion. He knew that he should be worried, but his head felt dizzy. It was hard to think things through.

“S-Shawn? Are you in here?” Grant asked aloud to the empty room. Unsurprisingly there was no answer, but the young man decided to look for him anyway. As he did so, things started to come back to him a bit. The horde coming, the separation, and then crawling into this building for shelter before passing out.

That’s when the panic finally flared up. Realizing the horror of his situation. Shawn wasn’t with him. No Shawn equals no support. No support equals no protection, and no protection equals death! Who was going to help him if the zombies showed up? Grant was too afraid to shoot anything, and up-close combat was out of the question.

“Oh god.. oh god no..” Hands raised to his head, pulling at his hair in desperation. A panic attack was coming on. Starting to jump into hyperventilation. Grant could feel his heart throbbing in his ears. There had to be a way out of here! He needed to find Shawn.

Moans from somewhere close had him petrified. Was it upstairs on a higher floor? Downstairs? Grant didn’t know, and he was terrified to find out. Frantically the young man searched for something to bandage his head with. Worried that the undead might be able to smell blood. Fear rising in his heart when he failed to find anything.

Next he heard a predatory snarl. The noise sounding closer than the previous moans. Although he still couldn’t pin-point the location. Did they know he was here? Were they going to find him?

_‘I’m not alone!’_ Grant panicked and fumbled for his gun until he realized it was gone. He glanced at everything in the room, and yet there was nothing. Well actually not quite, there was a door that probably lead to some hallway, but that would be risky. There could be infected hiding out there, and the young man didn’t want to end up getting himself clawed to pieces. Hope for escape was seeming bleaker by the second. For now all he could do was stay hidden.

**Rule Number Four:** _Keep Volume to a Minimum._

Grant tried to calm down from his panic attack, it was basically impossible to do that without Shawn.. he needed to be quiet. Too much noise will attract attention. From what he and Shawn had both witnessed several times before, the undead had some sort of heightened sense of hearing. Too loud, and they’ll come rushing to rip whatever made the noise apart.

Fortunately this ability proved to act as a double-edged sword. Just as they can hear you, you’ll be able to hear them. Their bizarre blood-chilling shrieks. If he hears them scream he could try and run and hide, but this knowledge didn’t do much to comfort Grant. Only offering him slight hope in the chances of escaping alive. The boy managed to crawl into this building without getting mauled, maybe he still has a chance of escaping.

_‘Right.. that’s it. I just need to be quiet..’_ The boy thought to himself. He had to think about what Shawn would do if he were in this situation. He’d fight wouldn’t he? Well considering that Shawn was much stronger than him, going room to room shooting zombies wasn’t exactly a good option. That was Shawn’s strong suit. Not Grant’s. Plus he didn’t actually have his gun anymore.. Was he even capable of doing anything right?

“I-I.. I’m useless..” Tears began to stream down Grant’s face as he whispered to himself. He hugged his knees and sobbed. Wishing for everything to go back to normal. Two days ago life was fine. No bizarre sickness. No apocalypse, and no zombies. How did this all happen? It was a question that would probably never be answered.

**_Maybe he shouldn’t have survived at all._**


	2. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Shawn tries to look for Grant in an abandoned office building. While Grant tries to stay calm in a place filled with zombies._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I took so long to add the second chapter! It’s was just difficult because Tumblr doesn’t let me copy all the text. Select All only works for paragraphs for some reason. So sorry about that! I’m trying to work on the next chapter, which I’ll be posting to Tumblr first and then here, since I want to get back into the habit of posting here again too. 
> 
> Also I’m sorry if this chapter isn’t very good or if it’s too short!

Only a day had passed since the outbreak, and it had already reduced the city into a crumbling ruin. The building that Shawn hoped Grant ran into during the attack had smoke billowing from one of the windows. He could hear the undead moaning within. Shawn couldn’t tell how many could’ve been in there

“Please don’t be dead Grant..” The man whispered to himself before heading inside the zombie-infested place. He held onto his shotgun tightly. Bracing himself for whatever could be lurking in the shadows. 

Movement flickered nearby and Shawn quickly turned around to see a zombified woman. Her face was covered in _deep_ wounds. There didn’t seem to be any bite-marks, so the man figured she must’ve been infected through those scratches. The infected woman hadn’t spotted Shawn. So he took this opportunity to try look around more. 

Nothing particularly noteworthy came up until Shawn found the stairs leading up to the second floor. That’s when he found a torn backpack filled with food, water, medicine, and other useful supplies. He recognized this bag. It was _Grant’s_ backpack. 

‘ _So he did come in here?_ ’ Chills ran down Shawn’s spine. He inspected the bag further and found specks of blood. Carefully, the man slung the other backpack over his shoulder. Shuddering to think of what could’ve happened to cause the bloodstains on the bag.

Returning to plan, he set foot up the stairs again. Getting distracted is a waste of time. So instead, Shawn focused on staying quiet. The dead could come rushing from anywhere at the slightest unfamiliar noise. He began to hold his breath when he got to the top of the stairs.

A large hallway greeted Shawn. It smelled of _blood_ and rotting meat. He pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose to mask the smell. Not that it helped much, but it was better than nothing. 

Trekking through the corridor, Shawn spotted a man sitting up against a wall near what appeared to be a janitor’s closet. The man was _missing_ an eye, it’s chest ripped open, covered in blood, and wasn’t moving. Shawn couldn’t help but be disturbed by this corpse. He could see trails of _black liquid_ leaking from the body’s empty eye socket, and from the one that still had an eyeball.

‘ _Can the dead sleep?_ ’ He thought to himself as he backed away from it. There was no way to tell if that corpse was in fact a sleeping zombie, ready to shriek and snarl upon being woken, or if it was purely just a dead body. It did have the _black liquid_ running from its eyes like the others though.. so Shawn didn’t want to take any chances. Creeping silently away. 

A door lay at the end of the hall. The man wasn’t exactly sure why, but he had a feeling that if Grant were to have wandered into this place in a daze, he might’ve went for that door. Slowly Shawn shook his head. A ridiculous thought. 

Maybe he was just getting desperate at this point. Searching every room in the second floor would’ve been a _death-sentence_ with all the zombies that could be hiding within those rooms. Still. He needed to find Grant. So why not start with the door at the end of the hall? 

Shawn gently held onto the doorknob. Twisting it slowly. His other hand reaching for his knife. Bracing himself for the possibility that the undead could be waiting just behind the door. 

————

Screams and shrieks were breaking out of the building and within the streets. What was happening out there? Did a zombie spot _someone_ or something? Was it Shawn? Grant tried moving to a window to take a look, but he was too scared. He just couldn’t move. All he could do was try to keep himself from falling apart. 

‘ _I’m okay.. I’m okay.._ ’ The boy kept trying to reassure himself. He wasn’t outside anymore. It was safe. Yes of course he was safe! Who wouldn’t be safe trapped inside a building with _**flesh-eating corpses?**_

‘ _Oh god I’m going to die in here!_ ’ Tears escaping again. He gripped his knees tight as he tried not to hyperventilate. 

A _Twisting_. 

A _squeaking_. 

There was a noise at the door. Grant’s eyes flashed over to see that something was turning the knob. He backed up. Terrified. Even though the undead weren’t smart enough to open doors properly, the young man was still afraid. All logic was thrown out the window in that moment. He shut his eyes tight. Not wanting to see what might happen next.

Whatever he had been expecting, miraculously didn’t happen. Nothing came lunging for him with the intent to eat him alive. Instead he heard a voice.

“ _Grant!_ ” A familiar man pushed the door open and shouted his name. Grant had to blink the tears before he could fully make out the image of his saviour, although telling by the accent, he already knew who it was. 

“S-Shawn! Y-You’re here!” He practically flung towards the man and just clung to him. This place was beyond terrifying. He was scared that Shawn would either never find him, or that he would die trying if he hadn’t already been killed. The comforting relief that washed over Shawn’s face was mutual. Grant felt it too. 

“Course I am buddy. I’d never leave you like that.” He held Grant in his arms. “I’m here now.” There weren’t enough words in the world to describe how happy he was to find the young man safe. Too many times did the thoughts of finding Grant dead cross his mind. Well, now that was over. Grant was fine. He was safe, and most importantly alive.

“D-Did you find my backpack? I think I dropped it when I came in here.. I-I need my gun.” A brief look of shame appeared on Grant’s worries face as he asked about his missing bag. Really wishing that he had never lost it in the first place, not that he could help it in his dazed state earlier. With a sudden fwoosh, a backpack was dropped into Grant’s arms. He caught it with a surprised gasp, and a chuckle from Shawn. 

“Found it by the stairs on my way up. Don’t worry about it kiddo. Everything’s still in there. I checked.” The older man ruffled his hair, playfully teasing him. Letting out a laugh when he saw the small embarrassed expression on Grant’s face. He always got a little embarrassed when Shawn treated him like a child. 

Their happy reunion was interrupted by the sound of more inhuman shrieks coming from outside, and a few floors below them. A survivor must’ve been hiding or traveling close by. Looks like they got caught.. and as horrible as that is, this could make for a good distraction. 

_Maybe they can escape safely._

“We should get out of here, right now.” The older man said quickly, followed by a nervous nod of agreement from Grant before they both quietly and carefully left the room. Now they just had to worry about not getting caught on the way out.

————

Night had fallen by the time they had escaped back to a safehouse. This had been their second time staying there, since the Apocalypse had only started nearly two days before at this point. Grant had practically collapsed onto his rolled-out sleeping bag. 

After dropping both backpacks onto the floor, the older man pulled out his sleeping bag from where he left it. Putting it next to Grant’s like usual, before lying down on it. 

Shawn felt exhausted as well. He’d never have guessed that things could spiral out of control so quickly. It was just insane. He still remembered how one of the news reporters broadcasting the other day had been eaten alive on camera. That left Shawn wondering, if this was it. The end of the world.

Surely, nothing could get worse than this _right_?

Shawn rolled over on his sleeping bag to check on Grant. Relieved to see his friend already sleeping soundly. The older man chuckled softly and gently patted his head. Before he drifted off to sleep himself, he thought about tomorrow, and how he should try to get in touch with his other friends from the studio. 

‘ _I’m sure they’re all right.. they’re strong people. They can handle anything_.’ The man smiled to himself sleepily. Promptly falling asleep soon after. 

They were safe. Him and Grant. They both were. At least for now. Hopefully things will go more smoothly for the next for days until they find someplace safer to stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guy’s liked this chapter! I worked very hard on it. If anyone would like to see more about the AU and it’s story, my name on Tumblr is bornoffireandwisdom! Please check it out if you’re interested! :D


	3. Bloodshed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _A trip to the grocery store takes a bad turn. Grant tries to hide something from Shawn._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I’m sorry I took so long to make and post a new chapter of this story. If it weren’t for the help of a really good friend this probably would’ve taken way longer. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter despite any problems there may be. If I find anything I promise I’ll fix them later!

Four days had passed since the incident with the office building and supplies were now running scarce. Other than that the two friends were doing well. Shawn had managed to contact Lacie and Bertrum and they’re apparently taking shelter in an abandoned hardware store in the suburbs.

Lacie said on the phone that they would be switching to a different safe-house soon and that Shawn and Grant were more than welcome to come meet up with them at their next temporary living-space. 

For the first time since the apocalypse happened, Shawn felt almost relieved. Hopeful. Two of his friends were okay. The rest were still unknown.. but hearing from two of them is better than none. He had to think of the positives. Now all he had to do was try to plan when they could leave to go meet up with his former coworkers. Before the man could could do that however, he needed to go on a supply run. 

“Hey Grant. I checked outside and it looks like there aren’t any zombies around. Looks like a perfect day to look for some more food and medicine. Do you want to come with?” Shawn said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder, and stopping to put a few rounds of bullets into his gun in case of trouble. 

“Y-Yeah. I-I’ll go.. do you think we can.. stop for some books while w-we’re out?” Grant asked in a voice slightly more nervous than usual. He’d been wanting something new to read for awhile now. He just didn’t want to bother his friend about it. 

“I dunno.. kiddo. There’s only so much we can carry and we should only really bring the essentials with us.” God. Shawn hated saying no to Grant. The kid deserved to have things that can make him happy. Especially with the world as terrible and as dangerous as it is now. He really does, but their backpacks can only carry so much stuff. 

“O-Oh.. okay. I-I understand..” The boy tried to hide his disappointment, which was difficult, but he understood why he couldn’t get any new ones. Still it’s such a shame. Tons and tons of books are just left to gather dust in dilapidated ruins. Someone has to read them, so why not him?

Maybe while they’re out he could grab a few? He’ll have to sneak away for a bit during the supply-run. Surely a few minutes wouldn’t be that bad. _Right_?

“S-So what do we need exactly?” Grant asked after momentarily snapping back into reality. 

“Hmmm.. more antibiotics would be good. Alcohol for disinfecting wounds just in case, and some more bandages would be great. As for food, I’ll think of something.”

“O-Okay. I t-think I saw a grocery store that we haven’t explored yet. There might be a pharmacy in there.. I-I saw it through the window back at that office building..”

“Really? Good eyes Grant! I didn’t see anything when I was looking for you. Might be dangerous though.. not to mention it was a bit far. You heard the screams around the place. That means there could be a lot of undead hiding in the area.. I guess I was lucky to only have to kill one.” The man recalled the events four days prior. When he and Grant had been separated. Was it really safe enough to head back to that part of the city? He figured that it probably wasn’t, but they really needed the supplies.

“Hmmm.. I guess we don’t really have many other choices, and a pharmacy would have exactly what we need..” Shawn mused as he thought about this.. “You know what? Let’s get going. Who knows? Maybe we’ll find something really good this time.”

————

Specks of dust floated in the air of the grocery store. Ripped papers scattered across the floor, along with broken bits of glass. Several shelves were found knocked over with many of their merchandise on the ground. The powerful smell of _iron_ lingered throughout the building. 

A big sign sat at the end of the store saying: “ **Pharmacy**.” Parts of the letters were burnt out while a few managed to flicker and glow. Naturally the two friends carefully made their way towards it. Sneaking through the aisles, in case of any unseen zombies spotting them. 

Shawn stopped for a second though. Eyeing a couple of boxes containing some rotten and stale food, and kept walking once the smell caught his nose. Grant wasn’t paying much attention to what was hiding in the rows of shelves. He was too busy looking around to make sure they were safe. 

The older man opened another cardboard container to thankfully find mini boxes of mac-&-cheese. Not rotten, not stale. Thank god. The kind that just needed to be warmed up in order to eat. Grant loved mac-&-cheese. 

Feeling sorry about telling Grant that he probably shouldn’t carry around anything that isn’t useful, he grabbed three small boxes of mac-&-cheese and put it into his backpack. Wanting to surprise the boy with it later. 

_‘That’ll cheer him up.’_ Shawn smiled as he thought to himself. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder again. 

Continuing on, they slowly reached the pharmacy side of the store. So far so good. Still no zombies to be seen. Although evidence of them previously being here was plentiful. Blood was spilled all over the outside of the pharmacy windows. Like some people tried to hide in there, and didn’t quite make it in time. Just looking at it made Grant nervous and even a little nauseous.

“Okay. I think we should split up, just for this section. We won’t be too far from each other. Don’t worry kiddo. I’ll go right. Can you go left?”

“Y-Yeah.. I can go left. G-Good luck.” 

Then Grant was alone. The fact that Shawn wasn’t too far away gave him little comfort. He’d rather not be doing this.. he hated when they had to split up. The apocalypse was terrifying enough as it is, but being alone even for a short time just made it so much worse.

“C-Calm down.. y-you’re okay.. Shawn’s nearby.. don’t panic. D-Don’t panic..” Grant whispered to himself. Trying to calm himself down while he trekked through the aisles. 

A small collection of books caused him to freeze. Oh how he missed reading. The boy loved absorbing all the words, stories, and knowledge within them. Enjoying the feeling of gaining something from what he’s read. Maybe just a small peek wouldn’t be so bad right? 

Yes. There were about thirty books to be found on the shelf. Mostly ranging from non-fiction to romance novels. He wasn’t really into those kinds of books, so he looked at the non-fiction ones instead. Some were national-geographic related, others history, and some about cooking and recipes. 

_‘If only I could just take one of them back with me..’_ Grant sighed. Eyes still tracing the shelf. 

Hold on. A magazine was nestled in between the stack of books. The boy pulled it out and looked at the cover. It was some kind of rising star magazine? He honestly wasn’t sure what it was, but the cover showed a picture of Joey Drew Studios.. the place he and Shawn worked at only 6-days ago. The picture showed every employee smiling in front of the building, with _Joey_ at the front. Looking proud. 

The caption read: “ **Joey Drew Studios popularity has spread across the nation!** ”

Strange.. Grant remembered that day. It had to be at least a few weeks or a month before the apocalypse hit. Odd that he was only seeing this now, and as hard and stressful of a boss Joey was.. he was beginning to miss working at the studio. He’d rather be doing accounting than running for his life from the undead day after day. At least then he’d see all of his friends again.. all safe and sound. 

“I-I miss them..” Grant muttered quietly, before letting out a sad sigh about to put the magazine back on the shelf and walk away until he realized. _‘What if everyone else is dead? And this photo on the cover will be all I have left of them?!’_ No he couldn’t put it away now. He has to keep it! Shoving it into his bag without a second thought. It was just too important to leave behind. 

Wait. Wasn’t he supposed to be looking for medicine and bandages? He almost forgot! Grant turned around to go search for supplies like he was supposed to be doing. Hopefully looking at the books didn’t waste too much time. The last thing he wanted now was to make Shawn worry. 

But as he turned a corner, he came across a sight that caused his blood to run cold. 

Five corpses were lying on the ground in front of him. Black blood dripping from lifeless, dead eyes, and leaking from their mouths. Dark veins present against pale almost-bluish skin. Clothes covered in red and black stains. They weren’t moving. Just lying there.. Why weren’t they moving? 

Grant slowly backed away. Trembling with fear, but then he felt something grab him from behind. How had he not heard the creature coming? The boy nearly shrieked in terror as he felt a horrible cold hand grab and pull on his arm. Eyes growing wide, the corpses on the ground still seemingly dead as he tried desperately not to scream. He panicked internally, struggling to use his other hand to pull out his pocket-knife but he just couldn’t grab it fast enough. 

Swiftly he slammed his foot into his attacker's leg, surprising it. Letting go of the boy momentarily. The young survivor tried to run, but the shambling creature grabbed him by the hood of his jacket and pulled him back with strength that shouldn’t be expected of undead. Clearly he underestimated them. 

The flesh-eater opened its jaws, exposing jagged sharped-edged _teeth_. Moving forward to take a chunk out of Grant’s neck.

_No._

_This can’t be happening._

Grant raised his free arm in a last-ditch effort to protect himself. 

All the boy could do was scream. He just couldn’t hold them back any longer as the zombie’s teeth made contact with his arm. Sinking deeper and deeper. Tearing into the flesh. Blood spilling down his arm. 

_**No.** _

_**_NO!_**_

__

Grant writhed in agony, flailing and pulling. Desperately trying to free his arm from the zombie’s deathly grip, slowly the monster's teeth left his arm as it readied itself for a particularly large bite, although it never got the chance. With the small time the boy had being free, he managed to get his hands on his pocket-knife and shoved the blade into the corpse’s forehead, just as the other zombies on the ground started to move. 

__

Stumbling from the pain that nearly blinded him. Spots danced in his vision. He choked back a few sobs. In shock and unable to think clearly. Grant held his injured arm to his chest. The bite was deep and bleeding badly. He had to bandage it up. Yeah. It just needed to be bandaged up. Then he’d find Shawn and they could leave and go home. A few gurgling groans behind him reminded the boy that he needed to pick up the pace as he left to search for some bandages. 

__

———— 

__

_‘Grant?!’_ Shawn heard his friend’s scream nearby and immediately went looking for him. He couldn’t let anything happen to him. What was the man thinking? Splitting up may make things easier, but it’s also more dangerous! Shawn slapped himself mentally as he bolted towards the scream. 

__

Passing several aisles. Why did there have to be so many of these? They blocked the way, forcing the man to go around them. It’s almost funny. Before they split-up, there didn’t seem to be that many aisles. 

__

Feet slamming to a stop. Shawn froze around the sight in front of him. A zombie was dead on the floor with a stab wound on its forehead. Four other corpses were close by and appeared to be sniffing the air. 

__

_‘Please don’t be looking for Grant.’_ The man thought with worry. Hidden behind one of the aisles. He slowly peeked around the corner to see a middle-aged zombie wearing the pharmacy’s employee uniform. The nearest infected out of the four. It snapped its jaws at thin air, letting out a pained moan before grabbing a human bone. Breaking it open to get the marrow inside with it’s pale bloody hands. 

__

Shawn mentally cursed at the sight of it. 

__

Okay. This was bad. But it’s nothing he hasn’t been able to handle before. The zombies haven’t noticed him yet, so he had a bit of an advantage. A quick stab through the skull could make short work of that corpse, but how could he kill one without the other undead hearing him? 

__

Hold on. Grant was in danger, he couldn’t just sit here and wait for an opportunity to arrive. Shawn needed to act now. Grant could’ve been bitten or worse. 

__

_‘To heck with this!’_ Shawn thought furiously. Breaking into a run. He didn’t care how reckless it was to be doing this. He didn’t care if this would get him killed. Grant was screaming and the man needed to find him. The sound of his boots catching the attention of the four walking corpses who he had passed by. 

__

One corpse gurgled a groan and staggered after him while the three others tried to sprint after Shawn. Another zombie ended up tripping over some debris but the two that were still chasing him were right on his trail. 

__

In Shawn’s rushed panic to find the boy, he almost missed the small trail of fresh blood on the floor. When he caught sight of it his heart sunk even further. The worry and dread over losing his best-friend was getting way more real as he followed the blood stains. 

__

_‘Please don’t be Grant’s blood. Please don’t be his blood.’_ The man repeated in his head. 

__

With his energy depleting and the hungry zombies still chasing him, he knew he had to find some sort of shelter. The new stains of red on the ground thankfully (or not thankfully) led to an employees room in the pharmacy. Specifically the one with the hard glass windows he and Grant saw earlier. 

__

Without even a second thought Shawn ran through the door. Hoping Grant was hiding in there. He closed the door and locked it. Backing away when he heard the loud banging and angry screams from the other side, quickly grabbing some things to barricade the door. Luckily a large metal cabinet was standing nearby, and he managed (although with difficulty) to push it against the door. The undead were still screaming and trying to break it down, but at least they’d have a much harder time doing so now. 

__

“T-Thank god..” The man sighed. Taking a minute to breathe, and to think about what to do now. First he figured he should get as far away from those glass windows as possible. From what Shawn could tell, the zombies looked particularly angry that their potential meal was so close yet so far. Clawing at the door and scratching at the windows. Trying to find a way in. Bloody faces snarling, gnashing their teeth at the sight of him, almost like they were trying to imagine what his flesh tasted like. Obviously that couldn’t be true. The undead can’t think, but it was strange.. they just looked so _enraged_. 

__

“S-Shawn..?” A small but painfully familiar voice sniffled out from the back of the room. Immediately causing Shawn to turn around and bolt after it. Knowing full well who it belonged to. 

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“Grant!” Shawn pushed over some large cardboard boxes and found a tearful Grant hiding behind them. “Oh my god kiddo, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was hoping I’d find you in here!” And pulled the boy into a hug. 

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“S-Shawn.. t-they tried to grab me! I-I wasn’t p-paying attention and they t-tried to bite me!” The boy exclaimed before breaking into sobs, crying into the man’s shoulder. “I-I’m so sorry!” 

__

“You have nothing to be sorry for kiddo! I promise. I’m sorry for thinking that splitting up was a good idea!” He let go of the boy momentarily to look him in the eyes, in an attempt to show his sincerity. Grant looked back with puffy, red eyes. Fear was still evident in them, and it probably wouldn’t pass until they got home. 

__

At this point heading to the Safehouse was the best option. Although looking back at the bloody walking corpses, still trying to find a way inside the room, showed that this was going to be tough. 

__

“S-Shawn? A-Are we going to die here?” 

__

Shawn didn’t know what to say to that at first, because it just took him so completely by surprise. He felt his heart breaking when he looked back at his friend and saw a fresh trail of tears running down his face. 

__

“No. We’re not going to die Grant. Not here, and not to those things. I promise.“ The man helped the boy onto his feet. In the process of doing so he glanced around the room. “Come on. There has to be an emergency exit around here somewhere.” 

__

“O-Okay.. l-let’s go-“ Grant’s trembling voice was cut off by a sharp yelp. Causing the older man to turn around to see if he was alright. Then he noticed it. The boy was holding his arm.. it was hastily bandaged and stained with blood. How did he not see that before? Upon realizing that his friend had noticed, a look of fear appeared on Grant’s face. 

__

“Grant. What is that?” Shawn felt a chill go down his spine as he asked a question he wished would never come up. “D-Did they _**bite**_ you?” 

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“N-No! I-It’s just a c-cut I got from some g-glass when running away! I swear! I fell down.. and t-there was a lot of b-broken glass on the floor..” 

__

“Alright.. I really hope you’re telling me the truth kiddo. Because I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you..” Shawn sighed, in what seemed to be both in relief and worry. “At least let me take a look at it when we get back home okay? It doesn’t look properly bandaged.” 

__

Grant nodded understandably.. but he had a look of discomfort. No, more like dread, around him, as he was nervously fiddling with a stray piece of the bandage that was wrapped around his left arm. Even though the kid’s anxious behaviour is rather normal and pretty common, something just seemed.. off this time. 

__

But Shawn shouldn’t question this. Right? Grant wouldn’t lie to him. After all, they’re so close. He’s like a son to him, and the man could tell that the younger man thought of him as a father figure as well. Perhaps he was just acting like this because of how dangerously close he was to getting attacked by the undead? Yes. That seemed to make sense. 

__

Now, back to focusing on the task at hand. They needed to figure out an escape plan. If they couldn’t find a way through the pharmacy somehow, then they would likely have to wait until the zombies lost interest in them. But how long would that take? They were still at the door, and surrounding the windows. Staring at the two survivors while drooling that strange black blood. Their filthy hands desperately pressed on the glass to push it away while others tried to smash it with fists, fingertips scratching the hardened surface uselessly. It was certain that they weren’t going to give up any time soon. 

__

Grant _refused_ to look at them. Shawn didn’t blame him. 

__

———— 

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At least thirty minutes had gone by before an opportunity made itself known. In the time they were trapped in the employee’s room, they managed to find a bathroom with a small window inside. It wasn’t big enough for any of them to fit.. but they could see the grocery store’s parking lot on the other side. A few cars were scattered around and one happened to be close by. Suddenly an idea came to mind. 

__

“Grant. I have an idea, but it might be a little risky.” Shawn disclosed after a moment of pondering. Then proceed to grab some small objects from around the room, mostly composed of empty coffee mugs and other little things, earning a confused look from his injured friend. 

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“W-What’s the plan?” 

__

“I’m going to try to set a car alarm off.” The man held up a cracked coffee cup, with the words ‘ **#1 Dad** ’ on it. “You’ve seen the way they react to loud noises. They’ll either investigate it or go into a panic. It’ll grab us some time to escape.” 

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“A-Are you sure i-it’ll work?” Judging from what the man was holding, Grant deduced Shawn’s plan fairly quickly. The man was going to chuck that mug through the window and at the nearest car. 

__

“Positive. Sit tight buddy, I’ll get us out of here.” Shawn promptly left after that. Taking his stack of assorted objects with him and leaving the injured boy to his thoughts. 

__

Grant didn’t want to be in here alone. Especially not with the creatures watching him hungrily through the windows.. but he supposed he had no choice but to wait. He tried not to think about anything. The boy was too mentally exhausted. Barely even noticing the dull throbbing pain in his arm. If he were in a better state of mind he’d presumably reason that the lack of pain was due to shock and adrenaline. 

__

Getting home. That’s pretty much the only thing he could focus on right now. Going back to the Safehouse. Not caring about the usual stuffy feeling of confinement it usually gave. Longing for rest, to be able to recharge his metaphorical batteries. Maybe even eat some bacon soup too. That sounded great right now.. 

__

Or was he just getting _hungry_? 

__

Tiredly he batted that distressing intrusive thought away. Don’t think about it. Just don’t think about it. He’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. Home is just around the corner. The boy couldn’t wait to go home. 

__

What eventually snapped the boy out of his stupor was the blaring sound of a car alarm going off. He blinked and looked back at the windows to find that the zombies were gone, but their shrieks were still very much audible. He hadn’t even noticed them leave. Grant got to his feet and nervously glanced over at the bathroom. Fiddling with that stray piece of bandage again until Shawn reentered the room. 

__

“Looks like it worked. Those things can really move fast when they want too. I think we’re clear to move!” Shawn grinned confidently. Putting a reassuring hand on Grant’s shoulder. “Hope you’re excited to leave, cause I got you a little something.” 

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“I-I am excited. I can’t wait to go home.” Grant couldn’t help but smile. Shawn really was good at making him feel better. What would he do without him? The man really was like a father to him.. 

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And he wouldn’t have survived as long as he had without him. 

__

———— 

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Once again the two were back at the safehouse. Tired, hungry, but otherwise happy to be home. Shawn was even making macaroni and cheese, which upon finding out made Grant extremely pleased. They both enjoyed it and soon started discussing how they would meet up with Lacie and Bertrum. 

__

Some ideas ranged from hot-wiring one of the many abandoned cars lying around in the streets and driving, to traveling on foot. Which would be dangerous, not to mention could take hours or more.. but that idea only came because where would they find a steady supply of gasoline? 

__

They talked about their plans for a little while longer until eventually deciding to wait until they heard from Lacie and Bertrum again, since they were the ones deciding the meeting place. 

__

Soon after that it had started to get dark. Winter is approaching and night is starting to come faster as the weather is getting colder. 

__

“Hey. You sure you don’t want me to look at that cut you got earlier? It’s getting late, and I don’t want it to get infected if you just leave it untreated like that overnight.” Shawn inquired, one brow raised as he asked his question. The boy could tell he was a little worried. 

__

“N-No.. I’m okay! I’ll take care of it. I-I’ve been looking t-through that book you had on first-aid. Q-Quite a few times. I think I can handle it..” This was true. The only book they had on them was a medical book, since Shawn had actually been interested in becoming a doctor. Of course, being head of a toy department and suddenly turning doctor was kind of strange, but it was a secret dream of his. Plus knowing how to bandage and treat wounds is very important for survival in the apocalypse. 

__

“Hmmm.. okay, but if you’re unsure of how to do it right, or if it starts to look bad just let me know. I don’t want you to get sick.” 

__

“I-I know.. thanks, I’ll t-try my best to take care of it.” 

__

The man gave the boy a supportive look, and then started getting ready for bed. Grant volunteered to take the first watch that night earlier that day, something he’d begin to regret later, he couldn’t stress about anything if he was asleep after all. 

__

Keeping watch through the window, he quietly observed a few stumbling corpses in the distance, spotting them gradually growing into a group formation. Huh, guess they’re hunting or something. 

__

Grant didn’t like to think of the infected as animals, but couldn’t find anything else to relate them to. They behaved so differently from people to the point where they didn’t even seem human anymore, and surely, despite being dead, they had to still be human, right? If only there was some kind of way to research this, a book of some kind, anything that could explain away this impossible situation the world had found itself in. 

__

Yet there was nothing. No answers. All the boy could do was speculate. Simply gazing through the window as the group of zombies wandered closer to the Safehouse, thankfully not noticing him due to his careful silence and their poor eyesight. 

__

One zombie stumbled and fell onto the concrete. It cried out pathetically. A younger one it seemed. With the darkening sky it was getting hard to make out much of their facial features. 

__

As the time slowly passed the group eventually vanished, but Grant felt a feeling of dread swell up in his chest. No, he hadn’t forgotten about the bite. He almost did, tried to pretend it wasn’t there, and that was what had kept him together back at the pharmacy. He lifted up his bandages, and felt like he was going to be _sick_. 

__

The bite was still there, but he couldn’t see it so well. It had not gone away like he had hoped. Instead it looked like it had been getting worse. Instead of familiar blue veins, he saw that around the mark they were black, and seemed to be spreading, ever so slowly.. why. Why did they look like that? Grant recalled the black veins often seen on the bodies of those infected. He’d never really thought about what made them like that.. but it scared him. What was this virus? Something like this couldn’t be natural. It could never be natural. 

__

Taking the bandages off entirely revealed an even more sickening sight. The actual bite-mark itself was still bleeding. Only a little, but it looked like it bled a lot more earlier as the area was stained red. Disturbingly, the blood that was dripping from the bite was no longer _**red**_.. 

__

_‘You’re not immune. No one is.’_

__

_‘Why would you think you’d ever be that lucky?’_

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_‘How could you have been so stupid?’_

__

Panic started to take hold of his heart. If that sign wasn’t clear enough, he truly had been bitten. He couldn’t deny this to himself any longer. And judging by the blood he really was infected. 

__

_‘I’m going to die..’_

__

How long did he have until he became the very thing that attacked him? 

__

Oh god. 

__

What would _Shawn_ say?

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this story. I worked really hard on it. Sorry again for taking so long, and once again if I find any problems I’ll try my best to fix them later. If you liked this story please leave a comment! I love seeing what people think about my stories.


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